Sunday, November 30, 2014

IUFRO & SAF/CIF World Congress 2014Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

IUFRO = International Union of Forest Research OrganizationSAF = Society of American ForestersCIF = Canadian Institute of Forestry

Breakfast in Bend on our way to SL

For the first time ever three international forestry organizations
collaborated for the world’s largest forest professional gathering ever! A
combination of over 6,000 people from around the world congregated to learn
cutting edge research discoveries, network with new colleagues, and learn from
peers.

Opening Ceremony featuring Native American
from South Western tribes.

Joining the Oregon State University Chapter of SAF in
Corvallis, OR we made the long drive to Salt Lake City, Utah in one day.There were 12 of us embarking on this
trip with the support of OSU College of Forestry and Oregon SAF Chapter.Fundraising and organization mostly by
our Chair, Sam Delano we were down for the adventure.Kudos to his leadership!

The week was packed with lectures, networking, and
learning.I attended lectures each
day with the intention of taking notes of the highlights.Some talks had multiple speakers during
the session and all had time for questions from the audience.It was fascinating hearing some
professional takes on critical topics.

The topics that I enjoyed most were the social science of
forestry and climate changes.I was
particularly inspired to better understand how foresters can and are learning
to be more effective communicators and public representatives.Forestry is more involved with the
public’s needs than ever before. Forestry cannot survive without further involvement
and education of important forest practices and processes.There were themes focused on the gender
balance in the industry but also the importance forest management can impact
communities.The Sierra Nevada
Adaptive Management Project works as a neutral party with the support of
research and community involvement.Or in Nepal wood is valued for fuel and without community participation
the forests were depreciating at rapid rates.

I connected with other students and deans for universities
across the world.Graduate
students were the most common for most of the conference.They were given the opportunity to
present a poster on their topic of study. Hearing from Dean John Innes at
University of British Columbiawas interesting to better understand the disconnection between the
industry professionals and academia.Goals and resources differ at each institution.A challenge that universities face to
prepare students is to keep up to date with technology. Like many disciplines
it is evolving too fast for courses to stay entirely relevant.It challenges universities to produce
accredited programs when standards vary so drastically internationally.He agreed that depth was challenging to
balance with breadth of forestry education.

Climate change was a theme throughout the event.David Cohnen was a speaker that stuck
with me. He reminded us that our population is growing at incredible rate and
that soon we are going to reach 7.5 billion people! Commodity prices are
increasing including non-renewable resources.The challenge of our generation will be to provide the
innovation and resources to be productive enough to sustain a growing
population with limited resources.He pushed idea of Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle as a huge player in the
future. The connection with our forests is that the urbanization and
construction leads to deforestation when the wood is bought from places with
less regulations and sustainable forestry. Our forests are becoming a more
recognizes source of multiple resources and functions.The public is demanding new uses of the
forests and the world is still learning how to meet that demand in a way that
is sustainable and capable of being multi-functional.

The event was highlighted with social events that gave
opportunities for delegates to meet others from around the world.The food was fantastic and the open bar
was appreciated.Live music
adorned the first social event.The
more casual atmosphere definitely made opportunities for more laid back
conversations.

On Wednesday of the Conference I attended a Field Excursion.Hopping on a tour bus we rode out to
the mountains.Salt Lake is
beautiful in the fall time. The birch trees were just changing colors and contrasted
beautifully with the firs.The
topic of discussion on the trip was urban forestry. We visited the local National
forest that provides water to the city. On the bus I met several people from
Canada and a few from Vancouver Island itself.The world is so very small.I walked with several people from Brazil, Ghana, Switzerland,
and more.The perspectives of this
international crowd were fascinating and made the trip worthwhile.

The last few days of the conference the Oregon State
students and staff at the event helped the representing booth.It was fascinating to realize the
international reputation our College of Forestry has.The unique programs and friendly staff are something to look
towards.

Attending IUFRO World Congress was an experience well
anticipated and I am incredibly happy that I was fortunate enough to attend.
The networking I was able to do was impressive.It helps me see the opportunities available in this industry
is astounding and hopeful that I will figure out where I can fit in.

Saturday, November 22, 2014

This landslide overflowed onto a mainline.
It measured about 3/4 hectare or 3 acres.
Yreka Main.

Culvert overflow.
Teeta 500.

Okay so one should know a little bit about what causes
landslides. WATER! Well look at that when it rains a whole bunch the soil can
become saturated and liquefies and gravity moves it downward! It is particularly common in areas with
steeper slopes, thicker soils, and exposed soil. While logging can exacerbate landslide frequency proper
forest management and road building can help lessen the impacts. Over the last 100 years logging
practices have changed a whole lot.
Heck in the last 20 years they have changed drastically! So when the land is exposed and
saturated the likelihood of landslide occurrences increases. As land managers we can do our best to
mitigate impacts.

Yreka Main road failure. 1of 3 in close proximity.

At Western we
abide by a guide of TRMS or Terrain Resource Management Systems. This guide differentiates high-risk
terrain areas and requires professionals to follow a detailed list of measures
to alleviate risk. A geotechnical
professional is hired to walk all of the blocks highlighted as potential
risk. They look at the rock
formations, soil types, old slides, new/old road placements, steep terrain,
streams, and everything in between. The goal is to minimize risk for debris
flow especially that would impact fish bearing streams and habitats with high
values environmentally and economically.
A combination of reports and thorough interpretations of the landscapes
engineers and foresters develop plans to reduce risk and hazards for equipment
operations and land movements.

Matt & I on heli

Randy & I on heli.

Landslides happen but management is key. For instance, this last October the
North Island experienced a heavy rain event. In fact it was 223 mm or almost 9 inches of rain in 24
hours! As you can imagine a few
landslides occurred. When 100mm of rain in 24 hours happens operations are shut
down. The areas that this occurred in experienced enough slides that delayed
logging and safe access to many parts of Jeune Landing.

My place at the bottom of the slides to survey.
Really muddy!

The following week after the rainfall shutdown was lifted I accompanied the area engineer; Chris, forester reporting landslides; Matt, and operations foreman; Randy in an Astar Helicopter to check things out. Our purpose was to record and summarize the events and damages obstructing equipment and block access. For two hours we flew taking pictures and points of slide and road damage. The more we knew the more efficiently we could delegate clean up tasks to the crews. We recorded well over 50 incidents that either required clean up attention or was greater than ¼ hectare to be reported to the ministry.

The slide went all the way to the ocean!
Yreka Main.

Matt the modern day forester. Heli + Ipad. nbd
Jeune Landing.

Rock truck and hoe before much work was done.
Teeta 500.

Later on I was on site for one such clean up. A road fill failed a corned on Teeta
500. The road was likely
originally built in the 1930s. It is
used as a mainline to connect the East to the West coasts of the island. Hauling was occurring prior to the
storm and was not safe to afterwards.
An outside engineer used a design to plan out a new fill to best suit
the road. The fill was situated on
an 80% slope and required significant rocks to replace and hold up. We did not
know how far we’d have to dig to find a bench to lay a new road or if we’d be
luck and find bedrock. The new
fill was built up on huge pieces of rock blast out of a nearby bluff. Many
truck loads of rock and fill was removed to expose the bench and set the proper
road prism. The project took
almost 4 days to complete. It
closed the mainline for at least a week. There was a rock truck, excavator, and
rock drill present to assist in the clean up project.

Survey equipment and Rock drill preping to blast!
Teeta 500.

In addition to assisting with the road repair, I recorded
the significant landslides to present to the ministry. It became my job to measure the areas
using pictures and Google Earth. I
had to identify the cause and effect of each incident. The tracking of these
occasions are documented for further analysis for a more complete understanding
of the geology and landscape reactions to landslides and debris flows. They are associated with particular storms
and can prove how severe the storm was and where it was focused.

Improvisation at its finest!
The rock drill's boom was bent and the hoe's bucket straightened it out.

Saturday, November 8, 2014

The Lower Dryland Sort at Port McNeill is a major funnel of timber on the North Vancouver Island. Nearly all of the wood on the east side of the claim is brought to this sort. The export logs in the claim all come to this sort to be stick scaled. Many of the logs are boomed down to add to other export inventories. The Lower Dryland is one of the busiest sorts of the NorthIsland because of the amount of wood that passes through the systems.

Weigh Scale

A great portion of the logs are weigh scaled. This means that the sorts of logs on the truck are proven to generally be relatively similar and through weight measurements can take a decent estimate of the volume on the truck. The truck drives on to the scale located at the upper sort and takes the weight. It then trucks the load down to the lower sort to be unloaded and banded together. A certain portion of the weigh scale loads must be sampled in order to best estimate the total volumes on each truck. That sample is then scaled by hand on the deck.

Stick Scale

When the truck comes in with a wider assortment of logs the load must be stick scaled. This means the load is laid out for the scalers and graders to calculate volumes, quality, and sort. All loads with cedar and old growth are stick scaled to catch the variability in the wood. Scalers and graders check the lengths and diameters to identify possible sorts. They then look at the size of knots, any rot, or damage to the wood that decrease the value of the log. With spray paint they may mark lengths that it should be cut by the buckers on deck. The sort is also marked on the log ends to be further sorted into boom sticks.

Hooking up logs to pull the boom sticks tighter together

Boom Makers

When the logs are finally scaled, graded and sorted they are banded together with the Bandit. The two wire cables are locked and the logs are then dumped into the water. The boom makers in their bumper-car-like boats maneuver the bundles into the allotted ‘sticks.’ The boom sticks are comprised of four bundles across and as many as eight in lengths. It depends on the frequency of the particular sort. Each boom stick is then attached to all the other sticks ready to be attached. When a full boom is ready a tug boat arrives to latch on and push the logs south. As many as two booms may be made per week at Port McNeill dryland sort.

It's like playing bumper cars in the water

The boom stick maker. The logs that surround each boom stick bundle.

Connection to Mills Demands

The dryland sort is intricately connected to the demands of the mills. The mills’ demands react to the market way more quickly that the persons in the woods can react. It is important for the dryland sort foremen and quality control persons to be tightly coordinating with the bucking prescriptions produced.